Ndi Igbo, Wake Up: The Danger Is Now at Our Doorstep
My people, let’s stop pretending. While we keep hoping that government will protect us, terror is already crawling across our land. We’ve watched in silence for too long. We’ve listened without action and now, the fire is burning right in our compound.
This is not a warning about somewhere far away, this is about us, here in the South East. The Fulani herdsmen, heavily armed and emboldened, have already crept into our forests, roads, and farmlands. They are not just grazing cattle; they are launching coordinated kidnappings, land invasions, and attacks.
From Uzo-Uwani to Ihiala, Isi-Uzo to Ukpabi-Nimbo, and Mgbuji in Ishiagu, our people have been chased from their farms, held for ransom, beaten, or worse. Some never return. And we still act like this is a northern problem?
Where are our Igbo community defense systems? While others created regional security outfits to respond to this rising threat, what have we done in the South East? We seem to be waiting, waiting until the danger reaches every doorstep before we rise up.
Let us learn from others. In the Southwest, 55 known bandit camps have been exposed, yet attacks still happen daily. The government did nothing until high-profile victims screamed. And here we are watching, debating, posting online while kidnappers settle in our forests.
Women and children are no longer safe traveling even short distances. People are disappearing. And these are not petty criminals, these are trained terrorists using sophisticated tools like drones and signal trackers to evade capture. They operate freely. Why? Because our communities are not organized. We are not prepared.
Here’s what we must do, as Ndi Igbo, before this madness consumes us:
1. Organize Community Vigilante Networks: Let every village and town reactivate or strengthen its local security structure. Don’t wait for the police, they are overstretched and, in many cases, compromised.
2. Establish Local Intelligence Systems: Youths must be the eyes and ears of the land. Every suspicious movement should be tracked and reported. Our survival now depends on information and unity.
3. Invest in Security Technology: Ndi Igbo in the diaspora, your land needs you. Use your resources to equip your communities with drones, CCTV, walkie-talkies, and emergency communication systems. Help your town unions before it’s too late.
4. Create Emergency Communication Chains: Every community should have a rapid alert system via SMS, WhatsApp, town criers, or radio, so that when danger strikes, help can be mobilized quickly.
5. Start Now. Prevention is Better Than Regret: Don’t wait for your own relative to become a victim before you act. Don’t say “it hasn’t reached my village yet.” If your neighbor is unsafe, you are not safe.
This is not fear-mongering. This is reality. This is a wake-up call to every Igbo man and woman at home and abroad. Protect your land. Protect your family. No one else will do it for us.
We must rise now or perish as victims.
